Interesting topic for May 10, from "Today in History"
Siege of Jerusalem: After approximately two months of siege, Titus, son of emperor Vespasian, begins operations to breach Jerusalem's third wall on the northwest side of the city.
Titus not only succeeds in getting through, but he breaches part of the second wall as well. It will not be until September, however, that Titus is able to enter the city and conquer it for his father Emperor Vespasian. According to Josephus, more than one million people will be killed over the course of the siege of Jerusalem and another one hundred thousand enslaved by the Romans.
The siege and destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE is one of the decisive events in the First Jewish-Roman War (66-73 CE), also known as the Great Revolt among Jews. This is the first of three major revolts of the people living in Judaea against the Roman Empire, and while it initially begins because of religious tensions between Jews and Greeks, it escalates into a full-scale revolt in large part because of resentment against Roman taxation.
The early successes of the Jewish forces - first overwhelming the Roman garrison in Jerusalem and then ambushing the XII Fulminata out of Syria - shocks the complacent Roman leaders and inspires them to treat the Jews more harshly than they otherwise might have."